Usually considered a summertime thirst quencher, a Radler is a bavaria Biermischgetränk (basically a beer-based mix drink). Like it’s British relative, the Shady, it’s half beer and half sweetened drink like a sprite or lemon-aide. Actually, I think the only true difference between the two drinks is what country you make it in and what beer you’re using. So if you use a light german pilsner and a orange soda-water, than it’s a Radler. If you’re in England and its Bass and a ginger ale, then you’re enjoying a Shandy.

Oktoberfest is a celebration that most of the world confuses. Most people assume a couple of things about it. The main confusion is usually that it’s in October, when in reality, it’s generally just ends the first week of October, but actually starts in the end of September.

German-American Day, according to wikipedia, commemorates the date in 1683 when 13 German families from Krefeld near the Rhine landed in Philadelphia. These families subsequently founded Germantown, Pennsylvania, the first German settlement in the original thirteen American colonies.

Long Island City, Queens might now be home to two recent german biergartens, but it has a classic bierhall history as well. I came across this postcard of the German house band at George and Hans Gastl’s Original Müncher Platzl that was located in Long Island City near the Queens Boro Bridge Plaza.

A radio commercial around christmas is what originally brought me to The Alpine Wurst and Meat House and Restaurant for the first time. My parents had just retired and moved out to the Poconos and determined to make a classic german holiday dinner. After finishing my last time of christmas shopping and trying to find my way back to their house, I was flipping through the radio stations when I heard an ad talking about a local wurst house that made their own sausages and had a restaurant attached.

I came across this awesome swedish poster for the american MGM film “What! No beer?” starring Buster Keaton and Jimmy Durante. I guess this was Keaton’s last starring roll in a US film. Although it was a money maker at the time, it seems to have falling into the halls of forgotten films.

Ah Schnitzel & Things, you are truly the odd man out in my bier hall crawl for one obvious reason. As a traveling street truck, you don’t serve beer, so no beer meter rating here. So for official bier hall crawl #3 I made a stop over to the much hyped and award winning (it won the Vendy Award last year for “rookie of the year”.

Most people think of beer and they picture a golden lager with a nice white head. Even my beer rating icon plays along with this stereotype (I admit it), but beers really do come in all shades. Well my friends, I have a little secret to let you in on, Guinness isn’t the only dark beer out there, in fact, some of the best ones, are german.

Hallo Berlin pretty much has a mini german empire in NY. Not only do they have their main restaurant and biergarten on 44th and 10th ave in Manhattan, but they also have an “express” storefront a few blocks away on 9th ave, a sausage cart thats stationed weekdays for lunch on 5th ave in the 50s, and even an alpine looking lodge in Conklin, NY.

I’ve found a few copies of this postcard on ebay in the past couple months. I’ve even seen a few matchbooks for sale from the place as well. According to a 1972 issue of the New Yorker, Yorkville’s long gone Hofbrau was “a big brassy beergarden establishment featuring yodeling, singing, swinging, dancing and bands”.